Godsmack’s Sully Erna Reveals Tension Over Another Animal Project

Much has been made about Godsmack's near split before taking a lengthy break prior to recording their '1000hp' album, but in a new interview with Revolver frontman Sully Erna reveals that it's not the first time tensions have risen to a near breaking point.

"This band has almost broken up several times," says Erna. "At first it was just the learning curve of having the band hit big and being on the road relentlessly." The frontman reveals that there were also other tensions than touring, as the desire to have everyone's voice heard also factored into a near split.

Speaking about the Another Animal side project that his bandmates formed without him, the frontman recalls, "There was a lot of tension around that. After the 'IV' record there were times when Tony [Rombola] was really bent with me because he got to a place where he started to write more, and he wanted more stuff on the records … For some reason he would take it personally when I didn't pick this song or that song of his. And so then the guys went and built a f---ing record off of the stuff that we didn't use but could have probably revisited later. And that created a lot of s--t."

Erna reveals that his biggest issue wasn't that the band members did a side project so much as it was that they did one that musically was competitive with their own brand. Erna says his own solo disc, 'Avalon,' was a complete disconnect from Godsmack's music, where he viewed Another Animal as directly competing with the band.

When all was said and done though, Erna reveals they were able to overcome their differences. "We realized that we have a really special brand here and it would be foolish to not get past this stuff," says the frontman. "And now? We're getting along better than ever. We're tighter than we were when we first met and that's the god's honest truth."

As for the potential breakup that was averted prior to the '1000hp' album, watch as Erna discusses it in detail in the video provided below.